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Flock Safety, a company whose drones were once reserved for police use, is now offering its aerial surveillance technology to private-sector businesses. Potential customers include shopping centers, warehouses, and hospitals seeking to curb theft and improve security.
Companies in the United States can place Flock’s drone docking stations on their properties. With a Federal Aviation Administration waiver to operate beyond visual line of sight, a company’s security team can launch drones across a limited radius, often spanning several miles.
“Instead of a 911 call that triggers the drone, it’s an alarm call,” said Keith Kauffman, a former police chief who now directs Flock’s drone program. “It is still the same type of response.”
Kauffman illustrated how the drones might operate in retail theft scenarios. If shoplifters were observed leaving a store, a drone equipped with cameras could follow them from its rooftop docking station. The video feed could be sent to the company’s security team or transmitted directly to local police departments.
The company has begun talks with large retailers, but the only confirmed private-sector customer is Morning Star, a California-based tomato processor using drones to secure distribution sites. Flock also plans to pitch its drones to hospitals, warehouses, and oil and gas facilities.
The FAA is currently reviewing rules for drones flying beyond visual line of sight. It is uncertain whether Flock’s proposed use will align with the agency’s final guidance.
The expansion follows a broader trend of police departments deploying drones as first responders. Such programs have successfully delivered visuals faster than officers could reach a scene. Flock drones have also participated in operations such as locating a missing child in the Colorado wilderness.
Despite successes, the use of drones for surveillance has raised privacy concerns. Critics argue that expanding drone use to the private sector could erode Fourth Amendment protections, enabling excessive monitoring and data collection without proper oversight.
“Flock is becoming the Meta of surveillance technology,” said Rebecca Williams, senior strategist for the ACLU’s privacy and data governance unit. “Its expansion into private-sector security raises difficult questions about the balance between public safety and individual rights.”
The broader implications of automated surveillance extend beyond individual businesses. As technology enables real-time tracking of people and vehicles, society faces new questions about accountability, transparency, and the intersection of private interests with public oversight.
Flock Safety’s move represents a turning point for startups working at the edge of security and automation, highlighting the opportunities and challenges of scaling innovative technology while navigating legal and ethical boundaries.
Read more HERE
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Space trackers report that up to four satellites from Elon Musk’s Starlink constellation are falling back to Earth each day.
Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, has been monitoring deorbit patterns and recorded an average of one to two Starlink satellites returning to the atmosphere daily in 2025. This number is expected to increase to around five as SpaceX expands the constellation.
Videos showing Starlink satellites streaking across the sky have recently circulated on social media. While visually striking, the events are not considered dangerous. Starlink satellites are designed with a lifespan of about five years and are built to burn completely during re-entry, leaving no debris for people on the ground.
Currently, around 20,000 objects are tracked in low Earth orbit. Of those, 12,000 are operational satellites, including 8,500 Starlink units. Despite the controlled nature of Starlink deorbits, Dr McDowell cautioned that other re-entering objects may pose risks since they are not actively managed.
“Every few months there’s a report of a piece of space hardware that’s reentered that ends up on the ground as a significant piece of debris,” Dr McDowell told EarthSky. “So several times a year we’re taking these potshots at people on the Earth and fortunately so far missing. So far we’ve been very lucky, but it won’t last.”
While Starlink satellites themselves are unlikely to cause harm, their atmospheric impact is still uncertain. The burn-up releases aluminium oxide particles, which may contribute to warming the upper atmosphere.
“It’s not clear yet really, even in the age of the mega constellations, whether these effects are going to be big enough to be really problematic, but it’s not clear that they won’t,” Dr McDowell said.
Researchers are actively studying these effects to determine if current disposal strategies need adjustment. The ongoing expansion of satellite constellations raises questions about the long-term balance between space development and environmental stewardship.
The frequency of deorbiting events and the sheer number of satellites entering low Earth orbit highlight the complex interplay between technological advancement and planetary impact. While the immediate risk to people remains low, the environmental consequences of burning materials high above Earth are only beginning to be understood.
Dr McDowell suggested that if studies confirm notable atmospheric effects, the industry may need to rethink satellite design or re-entry procedures to mitigate environmental impact. The situation underscores the importance of tracking both the physical and ecological footprint of human activity in space.
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Amazon will begin offering prescription services through electronic kiosks placed inside its One Medical primary care locations, marking the first time its pharmacy business moves from delivery to physical access points. The launch is set for December in Los Angeles, with plans to expand nationwide in 2026.
The kiosks will allow patients to fill common medications such as antibiotics, blood pressure treatments, and asthma inhalers directly after appointments. Each machine will connect users with a virtual Amazon pharmacist for consultation and will stock only non-refrigerated, non-controlled drugs.
Amazon Pharmacy Vice President Hannah McClellan Richards said the goal is to make healthcare more convenient while cutting costs associated with delivery and shipping. The company’s long-term vision appears to merge virtual care, logistics, and physical presence into one seamless loop.
One Medical members, who pay an annual fee of 199 dollars for primary and urgent care access, will be the first to use the service. Non-members will also be able to book appointments and use the kiosks. Amazon said each kiosk’s inventory will be tailored to match the prescribing patterns of its providers, suggesting an early use of localized data optimization in healthcare distribution.
The move comes as Amazon continues to search for efficiency within its sprawling network. Analysts have noted that shipping remains one of the company’s largest expenses, and Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky has acknowledged that putting inventory closer to customers can sharply reduce costs. “When inventory moves closer, shipping costs fall and demand rises,” Richards said in a recent interview.
Beyond the financial calculus, the rollout hints at a deeper shift in how healthcare is being reimagined. The line between pharmacy, clinic, and data service is blurring. A physical prescription, once tied to a local pharmacist, may soon exist inside a managed ecosystem that records, predicts, and fulfills needs automatically.
For Amazon, each kiosk is more than a vending machine for medicine. It is a node in a network designed to learn patient behavior, reduce friction, and reshape how people interact with care itself.
The project’s success could signal a turning point where healthcare meets retail technology in full. As the physical and digital worlds continue to fuse, what begins as convenience often becomes infrastructure. And once infrastructure changes, the rest of society quietly follows.
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Physicists at the University of California San Diego, working with IBM Quantum, Harvard, and UC Berkeley, have developed a technique called robust shallow shadows that improves how scientists read quantum systems. The method makes it possible to extract reliable information from fragile quantum states while using fewer measurements and less computational power.
Quantum systems are notoriously difficult to study because every observation disturbs what is being measured. Traditional approaches often demand enormous resources to produce meaningful results, limiting progress toward scalable quantum technologies. The new technique simplifies this process by combining shallow quantum circuits with Bayesian inference, a mathematical framework that refines predictions as new data arrives.
In simple terms, researchers shine mathematical light onto quantum systems and observe the patterns that emerge. Earlier methods, known as classical shadows, could estimate certain properties but struggled when noise or complex interactions entered the picture. Robust shallow shadows overcome this limitation by learning how noise behaves within a device and compensating for it during analysis.
The team demonstrated the approach on a superconducting quantum processor, one of the leading hardware platforms for quantum computing. The technique consistently delivered higher accuracy than single-qubit measurements, even in imperfect conditions. Key metrics such as fidelity and entanglement entropy showed measurable improvement, indicating that the method can uncover more precise details about how particles connect and behave within a quantum state.
By increasing efficiency and reducing the influence of noise, robust shallow shadows help close the gap between experimental quantum devices and their fully error-corrected counterparts. The advance means researchers can perform deeper studies without requiring prohibitively large data sets or perfect machines.
The implications reach far beyond academic physics. More accurate quantum measurements can accelerate work in chemistry, materials science, and cryptography, where complex interactions must be modeled at the quantum level. Each improvement in measurement translates to faster discovery and fewer wasted cycles of computation.
For those watching the evolution of quantum computing, this progress suggests a subtle shift. The race is not only about building faster processors but also about learning to see clearly in a world that resists observation. The clearer the view becomes, the closer we move toward understanding the invisible structures that govern everything around us.
Research findings appear in Nature Communications.
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Discord has confirmed that a recent data breach compromised a small number of user identities through one of its external customer service partners. The breach, discovered on September twentieth, allowed unauthorized access to government identification documents, including driver’s licenses and passports submitted for age verification.
The company emphasized that its own systems were not directly hacked. The exposed data came from a third-party provider used to manage customer support and trust operations. Users affected are those who had contacted Discord’s support or safety teams, even if they never created an account.
In its notice to affected individuals, Discord said the stolen information may include real names, usernames, email addresses, contact details, partial credit card digits, and IP addresses. Those who submitted identification documents face a higher risk of identity theft. The company added that passwords, physical addresses, and full credit card numbers were not accessed.
Following the discovery, Discord revoked the provider’s system access and alerted law enforcement. The company has also promised regular audits of its external vendors to ensure compliance with internal security standards.
This incident highlights an uncomfortable truth about digital security. Breaches often occur not at the core of a platform, but at its edges, where third-party systems and service layers quietly operate beyond most users’ awareness. Companies that handle millions of interactions each day depend on outside infrastructure, but those dependencies create new risks that oversight alone may not fully prevent.
For individuals, the lesson is simple but not easy. Every verification request, every support message, and every uploaded document extends trust into an unseen chain of custody. Once shared, data lives in places we do not control and sometimes cannot even name.
As digital life expands, convenience and safety rarely move at the same pace. Breaches like this one remind us that privacy depends not only on encryption or policy but on attention. The systems that protect us are only as strong as the ones we forget to question.
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Snap is remaking itself from the inside out. In a company-wide letter, CEO Evan Spiegel announced that Snap will now operate through small groups called startup squads, each made up of around a dozen employees. The goal is to restore focus and creativity inside a company that has grown large but lost momentum.
The change comes as Snap faces its toughest financial moment in years. Ad revenue rose just four percent last quarter, while daily active users in North America fell by two percent. For a company that once defined how people communicated online, those numbers reveal a shift in attention that algorithms cannot easily reverse.
Yet within the same report, there are signs of something different taking shape. Snapchat Plus, a subscription tier once viewed as experimental, now brings in over seven hundred million dollars in annual recurring revenue. More than fifteen million people pay for it, suggesting that Snap is learning how to move beyond dependence on advertising.
Spiegel also reaffirmed Snap’s long-term bet on augmented reality. The company is building its own glasses, which he describes as a step toward human-centered computing. In his vision, they could eventually replace the smartphone altogether. Competing visions from Meta and Google hint at a similar destination, but Snap’s smaller scale may give it the freedom to design differently.
Investors remain cautious. Snap’s market valuation sits near twelve billion dollars, down from more than one hundred billion at its peak in 2021. Spiegel calls the company’s current moment one of “startup-style potential,” an acknowledgment that what began as a social app must now rediscover how to build from uncertainty again.
Behind the restructuring, there is an unspoken recognition that scale can weaken clarity. Large organizations accumulate inertia. Smaller teams can move, decide, and create without waiting for permiSnap reorganizes into small startup squads as ad revenue slows and users decline, revealing deeper tensions between innovation and survival.ssion. In a way, Snap’s fragmentation is not collapse but return.
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Kazakhstan has moved against illicit digital finance, closing 130 crypto platforms and seizing 17 million dollars linked to unlawful activity. The government’s financial watchdog, the Financial Monitoring Agency, said these operations were tied to laundering schemes that blurred the line between technology and crime.
Officials described the platforms as informal crypto exchangers, not licensed exchanges. They operated more like currency shops, using blockchain systems to move money quietly across borders. What looked like innovation was, in many cases, a web of untraceable transfers.
Despite this aggressive action, Kazakhstan continues to present itself as a growing digital finance hub. The same government that promotes crypto innovation is now drawing firm boundaries around what it will allow. In that tension between progress and control lies a glimpse of where global finance may be heading.
New financial monitoring rules are being introduced. Any transfer above 500,000 tenge, roughly 925 dollars, will now require identity verification for both sender and recipient. Regulators say this is about transparency. Yet beneath the policy, there is something larger at play: the slow merging of digital freedom and state oversight.
The authorities also confiscated more than 640,000 dollars from unauthorized mining operations. These smaller actions, combined with larger platform seizures, suggest that Kazakhstan is shaping a future where digital currency cannot exist outside state reach.
The Astana Financial Services Authority lists twenty licensed digital asset providers, including major players such as Bybit and WhiteBIT. These approved exchanges represent a new kind of compliance model, one that keeps innovation under watch while signaling legitimacy to investors.
Kazakhstan’s evolving stance captures a broader truth. Around the world, nations are learning that digital systems can extend control as easily as they can create opportunity. Every seizure, every regulation, builds another layer in that structure.
For those who follow the story closely, the question is no longer whether blockchain will survive regulation. It is what kind of world will emerge once it is fully absorbed by it.
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Hollywood is in full panic mode. Top actors like Emily Blunt and Whoopi Goldberg are sounding the alarm after Tilly Norwood shot to fame overnight. The catch Tilly is not a human actress. She is a computer-generated creation and she is about to sign with a talent agency.
Fans are obsessed. Hollywood is furious. And everyone is asking the same question What does this mean for the future of entertainment?
Norwood’s Instagram is filled with stunning scenes. One moment she is battling monsters the next she is sprinting through a collapsing city. Her profile claims she loves iced coffee shopping and dreams of stardom. She has over forty thousand followers and rising fast.
The Screen Actors Guild has issued a harsh warning. They say Norwood was created using the work of countless real actors without permission. Two years ago actors went on strike to secure protections against this exact kind of technology. SAG President Sean Astin said it bluntly They are taking work created by generations of actors without acknowledgment or pay.
The creator behind Tilly London-based studio Xicoia claims Norwood is a creative work and a new way to tell stories. But Hollywood stars are not buying it Some are calling for a boycott of agencies that represent her.
Norwood is just the beginning. Japanese digital star Hatsune Miku has performed at Coachella and major brands have featured digital characters in high-profile ad campaigns. Some studios are exploring ways to use digital actors in film and television.
This story is igniting a firestorm. Fans cannot get enough and Hollywood insiders cannot keep up. Tilly Norwood could be the first star of a new era but she is already proving to be one of the most controversial.
The question everyone is asking Will Hollywood embrace her or fight back
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Nobel Prize honors breakthroughs in quantum physics
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics to John Clarke of the University of California, Berkeley, Michel Devoret of Yale University and the University of California, Santa Barbara, and John Martinis of the University of California, Santa Barbara. They were recognized for their discovery of quantum tunnelling and energy quantisation in electrical circuits.
Quantum effects visible in a small device
Their work focused on a major question in physics. How large can a system be and still show quantum mechanical effects? The laureates designed an electrical circuit small enough to hold in the hand but capable of demonstrating quantum phenomena.
Quantum tunnelling is a process in which a particle moves through a barrier it normally cannot cross. Typically, quantum effects vanish when many particles are involved. These experiments showed that quantum behavior can be observed even on a macroscopic scale.
How the experiments worked
Between 1984 and 1985, Clarke, Devoret, and Martinis conducted experiments using superconducting circuits. Superconductors allow electrical current to flow without resistance. The components in the circuits were separated by a thin non-conductive layer, creating a Josephson junction.
When a current passed through the circuit, the system of charged particles behaved like a single particle filling the entire device. Initially, current flowed without voltage. The system was trapped as if behind a barrier. Quantum tunnelling allowed the system to escape this zero-voltage state, which was detected as a change in voltage.
The experiments also confirmed that the system was quantised. It could only absorb or release specific amounts of energy, exactly as predicted by quantum mechanics.
Impact on technology and future applications
Olle Eriksson, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, highlighted that quantum mechanics continues to offer new discoveries. The principles demonstrated by the laureates form the foundation of digital technology. Transistors in computer chips are an example of established quantum technology.
This work also provides opportunities for future developments in quantum computing, quantum cryptography, and quantum sensors.
About the laureates
John Clarke was born in Cambridge in 1942. He earned his PhD from the University of Cambridge and is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley.
Michel Devoret was born in Paris in 1953. He earned his PhD from Paris-Sud University and is a professor at Yale University and the University of California, Santa Barbara.
John Martinis was born in 1958 and earned his PhD from the University of California, Berkeley. He is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
The prize is 11 million Swedish kronor and will be shared equally among the three laureates.
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Published: September 29, 2025 | Updated: October 8, 2025
The Original Breach
A well-known hacking group has launched an extortion campaign targeting Salesforce customers, claiming to have stolen one billion records from corporate cloud databases.
The attackers, previously linked to groups known as Lapsus$, Scattered Spider, and ShinyHunters, recently unveiled a dark web site called Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters. The site is designed to pressure companies into paying for the safe return of their data.
“Contact us to regain control of your data and prevent public disclosure,” the site reads. Security researchers discovered the site late last week, noting that it listed dozens of high-profile corporate victims.
The hackers claim to have breached customer databases belonging to Allianz Life, Google, Kering, Qantas, Stellantis, TransUnion, and Workday. Other alleged victims include FedEx, Hulu, and Toyota, though those companies have not confirmed any compromise.
Salesforce spokesperson Nicole Aranda said the company is aware of the extortion campaign and continues to investigate. “Our findings indicate these attempts relate to past or unverified incidents,” Aranda said. “There is no evidence that Salesforce systems have been compromised.”
The incident highlights how ransomware tactics have evolved. Rather than encrypting company data privately, attackers now publish public threats, using humiliation as leverage. The rise of these data-leak sites reflects a shift toward psychological pressure and public spectacle.
Update: October 8, 2025 – Salesforce Refuses to Pay
Salesforce has officially confirmed it will not pay the ransom demanded by the group calling itself Scattered LAPSUS$ Hunters. The decision came after the hackers claimed responsibility for stealing nearly one billion records tied to Salesforce customer portals.
The syndicate had given Salesforce until Friday to pay or risk having the data released online. The site hosting the threats listed 39 affected companies, including Toyota and FedEx, and claimed to hold exactly “989.45 million” records.
In an email to reporters, a Salesforce representative stated, “Salesforce will not engage, negotiate with, or pay any extortion demand.” The company had earlier notified customers of the situation, warning of a credible threat that stolen data could be published.
The extortion effort began in May when the hackers made phone calls to organizations hosting data on Salesforce. Pretending to be legitimate partners, they convinced several employees to connect an attacker-controlled app to their systems. Investigators say that this form of “voice phishing” is one of the most successful social engineering tactics used against corporate employees.
Security experts at Mandiant, which tracks the group as UNC6040, said the campaign demonstrates how social manipulation now complements technical intrusion. Instead of breaking through firewalls, attackers increasingly target the trust and speed of the human response.
Global ransomware payments remain enormous, though slightly reduced from the previous year. Deepstrike estimates that organizations paid more than 800 million dollars in 2024 to stop or contain such attacks. Some individual payouts, such as the 75 million dollar payment made after the Cencora breach, have only encouraged copycat operations.
Cybersecurity researcher Kevin Beaumont has criticized companies that quietly pay ransom under the guidance of law enforcement observers. “Corporations should not be directly funding organized crime,” he wrote on Mastodon. “It only keeps the cycle alive.”
As Salesforce holds its ground, the wider question is whether refusing payment will actually deter future attacks or simply drive them toward more vulnerable targets.
For the employees caught in the middle, the reality is stark. Many now serve as the last line of defense against manipulation designed to exploit human urgency and trust. As digital infrastructure grows more interconnected, the security breach is no longer just a technical event. It is a mirror showing how deeply human behavior has become part of the attack surface itself.